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Happy Birthday Katy Nichole!

Today on Artist Newsday we celebrated Katy Nichole’s birthday, and with that we went over all that she has accomplished in this past year! We also got updated with what’s happening with Forrest Frank and his back injury.

Katy Nichole was born today, July 29, 2000, making her 25 years of age this year. Since her last birthday in 2024, Katy Nichole has appeared on the NZ Top 10 with her song When I Fall, speaking to listeners far and wide with her deeply honest song which emphasized her desperation for God through very painful moments in her life. This song is set to appear on her brand new full-length album coming out on August 15th, which is called Honest Conversations!

Forrest Frank has been recovering in bed since his injury a week-and-a-half ago when he fell off his skateboard at his home, breaking his back. He fractured his L3 and his L4, and this is what he has been up to since then.

Forrest says on his Instagram account, “Following God is kind of hilarious because I’m feeling thankful for my back breaking???????” He goes on to declare, “Drugs don’t do this, money can’t do this, nothing else…. only JESUS”. Forrest is finding joy in every circumstance he finds himself in… even in the midst of recovering from a broken back. What an example he is leading to a generations young and old on social media– To rejoice always, glorifying God no matter what situation he finds himself in!

Today we pulled some lyrics from a song we heard on The Afternoon Drive and played Song Poetry! Here were the lyrics we picked today:

Come see all the captives run free
He’s tearing down the walls
He’s tearing down the walls
There’s grace shaking power when we sing
The Name above them all
Your Name above them all

Today’s Song Poetry was a stumper! If you think you know which song these lyrics are from, and who sings this song, listen in next week during The Afternoon Drive and give us the answer! If you can guess this stumper, you will get two $5 gift cards to Watts Restaurant in Utica! Tune in tomorrow for some fun facts for Who Knew Wednesday!

Thank you so much for listening!
– Ethan Hershberger

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Monday at the Ohio State Fair!

We are ON THE ROAD at the Ohio State Fair today! Ethan, Sue and Naomi are there for the Tauren Wells and Josiah Queen concert!

Here’s some Monday Motivation from both of these excellent artists!

What do people eat in the hospital?

Top answer??? (46 votes)
2. ??? (28)
3. ??? (12)
4. Pudding (8)
5. Apple sauce (6)

It’s a stumper!

Thanks for listening!
– Joe

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NZ Top 10 for 7/25/2025

Happy Friday! Here is your top 10 countdown for this week:

10. We Are Messengers – A Thousand Times
9. Phil Wickham – The King Is In The Room
8. Zach Williams – Jesus Loves
7. Forrest Frank – Your Way’s Better
6. ELEVATION RHYTHM – Goodbye Yesterday
5. Phil Wickham – What An Awesome God
4. Micah Tyler – God Did It
3. Jon Reddick – No Fear [Was #1 for 7 Weeks]
2. MercyMe – Oh Death
1. TobyMac – a lil Church

New Music Friday Adds This Week:

Crowder – STILL

Chris Tomlin – How Good It Is

Thank you so much for listening!
– Joe and Ethan

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WNZR celebrates National Vanilla Ice Cream Day with Round Hill Dairy!

Yesterday the Afternoon Drive celebrated National Vanilla Ice Cream Day by visiting Round Hill Dairy at the Knox County Fair! Marcy and Ethan talked with owner Tyler McCann about the legacy of his family business, and serving the Knox County community. Tyler and his team proudly support the Knox County Fair and the 4H participants.

WNZR thanks Round Hill Dairy for being a broadcast partner for WNZR’s coverage of the Knox County Fair!

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God can use ANYTHING… even a broken back to bring glory to His Name!

Forrest Frank is hot off of releasing chart-breaking songs like “Good Day” and his latest, “Your Way’s Better”, receiving so much love on Instagram and TikTok. Recently, he has done it once again, but this time it wasn’t because of a song… kind of.

Forrest has gone viral once again on social media, but unfortunately the Internet isn’t the only thing he broken these past five days. Forrest was skateboarding outside his home and had an accident, breaking his back. He has been bed-ridden, with a fractured L3 and L4. However, despite the circumstance, Forrest has not let this stop him from making music to continue worshipping and praising God.

Two days later, stuck at home, he teased the chorus of a new song he’s been working on, called “God’s Got My Back”, which as you can see is poking a little bit at his accident.

You can watch him make the song here. Be aware: The video contains a couple seconds of raw footage when Forrest hit his back on the pavement.

It is absolutely incredible to see Forrest continuing to worship and praise God, despite the situation he is in right now. While he may not realize, he’s portraying an honorable example to a younger generation– Taking an unfortunate circumstance, and turning it into praise!

Here is what Forrest teased a couple days ago, reacting to all the love and support he’s already received from this new song he’s working on!

“You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.” – Genesis 50:20

Here are the lyrics we took from a song we heard on The Afternoon Drive today for a game of Song Poetry!

Some days life feels perfect
Other days, it just ain’t workin’
The good, the bad, the right, the wrong,
And everything in between.

Today’s Song Poetry lyrics were from TobyMac’s song “Speak Life”. Congratulations to Jenn from Mount Vernon for calling in and guessing the artist and song title correctly, taking home a $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica! Tune in tomorrow for a game of Who Am I? and a special Who Knew Wednesday where we continue going On The Road With Big Blue at the Knox County Fair!

Thank you so much for listening!
– Joe and Ethan

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Set your eyes on Jesus! He will bring you through!

Starting your week off with some encouragement, we talked about Lauren Daigle’s song “Look Up Child”!

Lauren’s song encourages up to take our eyes off of our worries and struggles, and to just set them on Jesus! We see this posture of heart in Hebrews 12:1-2, where it says:

“12 1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”

Set your eyes on Jesus! He will bring peace to you, take care of you, lead you, and guide you in whatever is swirling in your mind, or what your situation is!

Here was our Family Feud question on Mystery Monday!

Name a musical instrument you do not blow into.

  1. Guitar (39 votes)
  2. Piano (33)
  3. Drums (11)
  4. Violin (11)

Congratulations to Lyle from Howard for calling in and giving us the top two answers, taking home that $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica! Tune in on Tuesday for Artist Newsday and our On The Road With Big Blue broadcast at the Knox County Fair!

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NZ Top 10 for 7/18/2025

Happy Friday! Here is your top 10 countdown for this week:

10. We Are Messengers – A Thousand Times
9. Phil Wickham – The King Is In The Room
8. Phil Wickham – What An Awesome God
7. Micah Tyler – God Did It
6. Zach Williams – Jesus Loves
5. Forrest Frank – Your Way’s Better
4. ELEVATION RHYTHM – Goodbye Yesterday
3. MercyMe – Oh Death
2. Jon Reddick – No Fear [Was #1 for 7 Weeks]
1. TobyMac – a lil Church

New Music Friday Adds This Week:

Seph Schlueter – Won’t Start Now

Thank you so much for listening!
– Joe and Ethan

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Hot Dogs, Fair time, and Cherries?

We’ve got a large basket of WHO KNEWS today!

Which hot dog would you choose? Ethan chose the Detroit Coney Dog and Joe chose the New York Style Hot Dog!

NATIONAL HOT DOG DAY – here’s a great chart from the Art of Manliness website 🙂

NATIONAL CHERRY DAY (from NationalToday.com)

Cherries have been a staple for centuries. From the Roman Empire to the Chinese dynasties, the little red fruits have been on the plate of millions and came to America by ship with early settlers in the 1600s.

Modern-day cherry production in the United States began in 1852 when Peter Dougherty began planting cherry trees on the Old Mission Peninsula in the state of Michigan. The Midwest area proved to have an ideal climate for growing cherries and mass harvesting soon took place, with the first commercial tart cherry orchards in Michigan being planted in 1893. Soon, production surpassed other major crops and the first cherry processing facility, Traverse City Canning Company, was built with the ruby-red fruit soon being shipped to neighboring cities in the Midwest. Outreach to the entire country was created shortly after.

We’re going to the Knox County Fair starting Sunday, July 20th next week! Sign up for our prize baskets on our website for your chance to win HERE!

Can you guess our mystery famous person that was born on July 16th? Here are the five biographical clues:

🏈 I was born July 16, 1968, in Wichita, Kansas.

🏆 I won the Heisman Trophy in 1988 while playing for Oklahoma State University, after a record-setting season with over 2,600 rushing yards.

🦁 I was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 1989, and played 10 NFL seasons, earning 10 Pro Bowl selections and rushing for 15,269 career yards.

🔥 I was known for my elusive running style, balance, and speed and won the NFL MVP in 1997, tying with Brett Favre.

🏛️ I retired unexpectedly in 1999 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004.

Who Am I?

I am… BARRY SANDERS (photo credit: Pride of Detroit)

Congratulations to Michelle from Mount Vernon for calling in and guessing him correctly, taking home a $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica! Tune in tomorrow for some devotions and worship music on The Afternoon Drive!

Thank you so much for listening!
– Joe and Ethan

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We’re “Counting Our Blessings”, Listening To Seph Schlueter’s New Full-Length Album!

We’re absolutely loving the music Seph Schlueter has been putting out! We get to see some of our favorites from him, and some brand new ones, in a full-length, 11-song album called “Counting My Blessings”, including the title track which was his first big hit!

On Artist Newsday today, we went more in depth with Seph’s new album that is out now, Josiah Queen’s new album, and something new coming from a band from the vault we hear on WNZR, called Kutless!

Seph Schlueter blows us away with his style of music that the Lord has spoken through to so many people, touching so many lives. This album reminds us of God’s grace and that His grace is always sufficient for us and never runs out. It’s an album full of worship and gratitude towards God. We’ve been so blessed to hear songs like Running Back To You and the title track, Counting My Blessings, on WNZR, which you can find on this new album!

With this new release, Seph will be taking his these new songs with him on his Counting My Blessings Tour this Fall alongside a favorite new artist, bodie! They’ll be stopping at The George in Cincinnati, Ohio on Thursday, October 2nd! You can find more details and ticket information on the Concert page on our website by clicking HERE!

What can you look forward to next with new album releases? You can keep an eye out for Josiah Queen, who’s releasing a new, full-length album titled MT. ZION. This new album includes the new one from Josiah and Brandon Lake, Can’t Steal My Joy, alongside some songs of his that have been blowing up on social media! God is once again using artists like Josiah to spread the love of God to areas like social media, and spread the Good News of the Gospel to people who may not have heard that much about Jesus or what He did to pay for each and every one of all our sins!

Josiah Queen be here in Ohio soon, joining the stage with Tauren Wells at the Ohio State Fair on Monday, July 28th! Keep listening in for ticket giveaways for this concert! We’re doing Tauren Wells and Josiah Queen trivia questions, and whoever calls in first with the correct answer takes home two tickets to the concert! Don’t miss your chance and tune into The Morning Thing, 6am – 9am, and The Afternoon Drive, 4pm – 6pm! More details about this concert and the Ohio State Fair can be found HERE on our website!

With their unique and hard rock style, the band Kutless creates a Revelation-inspired 6-song EP which is called The Seventh Seal. You can find this new EP on their YouTube channel, by clicking HERE and find it where they stream music!

Today we played Song Poetry! We took a segment of lyrics from one of the songs we heard during The Afternoon Drive. Here were the lyrics we had for Song Poetry today:

I don’t know who I’d be if I didn’t know You,
I’d probably fall off the edge.
I don’t know where I’d go if You ever let go,
So keep me held in Your hands.

This week’s song was… “Thank God I Do” from Lauren Daigle! Congratulations to Janell from Mount Vernon for calling in and guessing both the song title and artist correctly, taking home the $5 gift card to Watts Restaurant in Utica! Tune in tomorrow for a game of Who Am I? and some fun facts on Who Knew Wednesday!

Thank you so much for listening!
– Ethan Hershberger

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